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Old 07-17-2014, 09:56 AM
 
Location: Prosper
6,255 posts, read 16,985,517 times
Reputation: 9501

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Quote:
Originally Posted by BigDGeek View Post
My house has an alley too. My assumption is always that the car already IN the alley has right of way and someone can hardly come out to let you pass if you're blocking their exit. I think the guy who pulled up and sat there was wrong, personally. But it's hard to know without seeing your alley; if both of you were right in the middle of a long or curving alley, who's to know.
I agree with this. If I am already in the alley driving towards the exit, and someone else pulls into the alley, they usually back up and let me exit. I do the same when the situation is reversed. It's always been that way and we've had houses with back alleys for the past 30 years.

If someone is already in the alley and I start to back out of my driveway, I pull back onto it to let them pass, they were in the alley first. I've only ever had one person fail to yield when I had the right of way, and the solution was simple, I just sat there until they figured out that they wouldn't be pulling into their garage anytime soon if they didn't move.
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Old 07-17-2014, 03:52 PM
 
409 posts, read 869,412 times
Reputation: 641
Default Blocking

Have any of you had an issue with alley blocking? I don't mean two cars facing each other in a stare-down, waiting for the other to move. I mean the car is in the alley, the driver is out of the car, and there is absolutely no way to get pass them. It happens very, very rarely but once is too much as far as I am concerned. I could almost read people's minds when they do this: "Oh I am only going to be second. Besides YOU can WAIT, YOU got nowhere to go and nothing to do, unlike me"

Luckily my alley has two entry points so I am never completely trapped or prevented from leaving my house. It never occurred to me to check for that. There is no way I would ever move where the alley only had one entry point.
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Old 07-17-2014, 05:54 PM
 
Location: North Texas
24,561 posts, read 40,096,521 times
Reputation: 28547
Quote:
Originally Posted by lemonegg View Post
Have any of you had an issue with alley blocking? I don't mean two cars facing each other in a stare-down, waiting for the other to move. I mean the car is in the alley, the driver is out of the car, and there is absolutely no way to get pass them. It happens very, very rarely but once is too much as far as I am concerned. I could almost read people's minds when they do this: "Oh I am only going to be second. Besides YOU can WAIT, YOU got nowhere to go and nothing to do, unlike me"

Luckily my alley has two entry points so I am never completely trapped or prevented from leaving my house. It never occurred to me to check for that. There is no way I would ever move where the alley only had one entry point.
I admit I have blocked the alley in front of my driveway a couple of times. I put the hazards on to indicate that I'm coming RIGHT BACK and literally run from the car to the house and back. So far, I've never held anyone up. If people had been waiting patiently behind my car when I got back I probably wouldn't do it again.
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Old 07-17-2014, 05:58 PM
 
Location: NYC
16,061 posts, read 26,643,626 times
Reputation: 24848
I have had that happen, it is unbelievable! Luckily you can go around, but it is very frustrating!
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Old 07-17-2014, 06:09 PM
 
Location: Prosper
6,255 posts, read 16,985,517 times
Reputation: 9501
Quote:
Originally Posted by lemonegg View Post
Have any of you had an issue with alley blocking?
It happens every now and then for our street. It just happened this week actually, a neighbor was getting a new fence put in, and the contractors work trucks were blocking the alley for two days. Not a huge deal, because we have two entrances, and last year we got our fence replaced so last year it was our contractor blocking the alley for a few days. Just something you have to live with sometimes.

Now, if there was no other way to get in/out of our garages, that is a different story.
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Old 07-18-2014, 08:32 AM
 
39 posts, read 49,652 times
Reputation: 45
I have a related question: who maintains the alley way? I thinking primarily of the (often times overgrown) trees, shrubs, and limbs, etc. that collects in the alley. We are moving from Atlanta to Dallas, just put a contract on an M Streets home and fortunately our alley-entry garage is only a few lots from the side street, so I will not have many stare-downs (hopefully!). But during the house-hunting we drove down many alleys where I was worried that even my SUV rental would not clear some of the crap laying on the concrete alley!

Thanks for any insights!
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Old 07-18-2014, 08:40 AM
 
Location: Dallas, TX
2,825 posts, read 4,435,312 times
Reputation: 1830
It is the responsibility of the home owner.

"Obstructions Alley/Sidewalk/Street
Obstructions (Section 18-14)
The occupant or owner is responsible for keeping the street, alley, sidewalk and public grounds clear of obstructions. This includes the trimming of trees, shrubbery and vines which may obstruct any vehicle traveling through an alley, or which may obstruct a sidewalk or street or other public grounds. Additionally, sidewalks must have a height clearance of 8 feet - streets and alleys must have 15 feet of overhead clearance. Take advantage of the City's Bulky Trash Program by trimming trees and shrubbery to coincide with your legal Bulky Trash Week."

Welcome to the City of Dallas, Texas - Code Compliance
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Old 07-18-2014, 08:53 AM
 
1,256 posts, read 2,482,051 times
Reputation: 1906
Quote:
Originally Posted by bencronin04 View Post
I enjoy having an alley, even though my garage is on the side of the house since we are a corner lot. I don't have to look at garages everywhere, and old junker cars in people's drive ways driving down the street. I can see clearly each way from my front yard and on trash day I don't have to worry about running my trashcan out the night before(plus I don't see them sitting out front all day).
This. ^^^

We lived in a house with a front garage & driveway for 10 years. Even in a nice neighborhood, driveways can get unsightly:cracked, weedy. Inevitably, someone would park a car in the driveway with an oil leak, etc., which invariably meant expensive power washing. It was disheartening how this one feature could make a beautiful home look awful.

And I am definitely down with having the garbage cans in the back.

To each his own, I guess.
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Old 07-18-2014, 09:42 AM
 
5,251 posts, read 6,338,377 times
Reputation: 6216
If there is someone blocking our alley, I pull out my jousting rod for a quick tournament.
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Old 07-18-2014, 09:47 AM
 
Location: Dallas
574 posts, read 1,471,725 times
Reputation: 640
LOVE LOVE LOVE having an alley! In the 3 years I have lived here I have never seen anyone blocking the alley other than service people. Our alley has two entrances, and I have a small car, so if I back out and someone is already coming from one direction, I just pull back into my driveway and turn to go the other direction. Just about everyone gives right of way to the car already in the alley.

Most of the time, with our super polite alley neighbors, when there are two cars turning in from each end, both cars end up backing all the way to the entrance they started from to let the other go. Then you awkwardly wait for the other car to exit, but they never do and then you realize they are doing the same thing on the other end!

I really enjoy the aesthetics of not having garages in front, and the privacy they afford. And even though we have a circular drive in the front, I never park my car there unless I'm quickly going into the house to get something I forgot or drop something off.
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